FTSE begins Thursday down slightly, slipping 0.17 per cent

The FTSE 100 opened slightly down on Thursday with the banking sector suffering in the first hour of trading.

At 09:08 GMT the London index stood at 5,634.82 – a rise of 9.81 points, or 0.17 per cent.

Tullow Oil suffered the biggest slump in early trading, slipping 1.41 per cent to 1,263p.

The banks witnessed significant drops as well with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Barclays falling 1.38 per cent and 1.03 per cent respectively.

Lloyds Banking Group also dropped 0.92 per cent.

Heading the stocks with registered positive in the morning trading was GlaxoSmithKline which rose 2.45 per cent to 1,254.5p.

Shares in British Airways also rose 1.45 per cent despite the looming strike action planned by cabin crew.

Royal Dutch Shell and Severn Trent were also up 1.19 per cent and 0.99 per cent.